The Unexpected Lesson I Learned From Lying About My Fat Loss Story

A few weeks ago, I posted a before-and-after picture of myself on Facebook. As much as I loathe the thought of posting half-nekkid pictures of myself in a public forum, let alone THE most public forum on the planet, I did it to show the world what was possible with the right nutrition, the right lifestyle and the right attitude:

As a side note, the fact that I was days away from turning 41 could’ve suggested that I was also experiencing the onset of a mid-life crisis. But I digress.

Within minutes of posting my pic, a flurry of comments poured in:

They were all so incredibly heart-warming and encouraging. And as far as Facebook posts go, the positive remarks served to measure my sense of self-worth and value in the world. (Isn’t that what Facebook is all about, anyways?)

Except it was all a big lie.

Don’t get me wrong: those pics are real. That is my body. Unedited. Unaltered.

It’s just that I took both pictures within 10 minutes of each other.

This was a social experiment inspired by an Australian personal trainer who took her before-and-after pics 15 minutes apart, simply by performing a few clever tricks with her clothes, posture, hair, and some tanning lotion:

When I saw what she did, I thought to myself, could I pull that off, too?

I put on the tightest pants I could find, slouched my shoulders, and stuck out my belly. And then a few minutes later, changed into something that didn’t cut my crotch in half, stood tall with shoulders back and chest out, stuck my hips to the side for a little sass, and flashed a smile.

AND SHA-BAM!

Instant fat loss.

The truth of the matter is, this is way more common than you think.

The fitness and beauty industry alters, edits, and fakes before-and-after pictures all the time. And just to prove a point, here is a clip from the documentary, Bigger, Stronger, Faster, in which photographers confess to all kinds of dishonest shenanigans, such as taking before-and-after photos on the same day, and blatant photoshopping:

My whole experiment was originally intended to be a raging rant against the fitness industry, and how it has maliciously perpetuated unrealistic body image standards for all of humanity.

But what started off as a politically-charged expedition, turned into a surprisingly poignant lesson in self-love.

Before I posted my picture publicly, I unveiled the picture and confided privately with a few girlfriends, and one of them wrote:

Love it!!!!! AND YOU HAVE AMAZING ABS, MINA!!! I can’t believe this…. Unreal how this can be the same body.

And that’s when it hit me.

It is the same body.

‘Cuz even though I’m the girl on the right, I usually feel like the girl on the left most of the time.

What I learned from this whole experience is that given the right sprinkling of self-respect and confidence, I can choose to be the girl on the right everyday. All it takes are three really simple strategies that don’t require starvation, deprivation, diet pills, or a lifetime of ab crunches:

Smile. You’ll be amazed how a bright smile can make you look happier, younger, and healthier.

Be proud and stand tall. Posture makes a world of difference in how you look. It can portray confidence, self-assuredness, and … um… ahem … smooth out your muffin top.

Wear clothes that flatter your body. Listen, honey, I don’t care if you’re a size 2. If you try to squeeze into a double zero, you bet you’ll create bulges that didn’t exist otherwise. Your body shape is yours to love and appreciate. Fit it well, and you’ll look and feel your best.

The big picture is this: Love yourself. Love your body. There’s no point in trying to fit into someone else’s ideal, ‘cuz it was all photoshopped and faked anyways.

Speaking of loving yourself… See those jeans I’m wearing in the first pic? Those are my own jeans. Like, yep, from my own closet.

Why I’ve kept them for so long (and why I even bought them in the first place) is a mystery to me. Those jeans have got to be the greatest example of self-loathing I’ve ever seen. Seriously, though. I need to throw them out, pronto. They ain’t doing nobody a favour.

Did you like this article? Like me, link me, tweet me, and share the love! Or reply in the comments below: Are you holding on to a piece of clothing that is doing your body injustice? What changes are you going to make to help flatter your body today?

71 Responses

Thank you for writing this! Such a positive message! So many women (and men) do this to themselves everyday and fall for the same old tricks thinking “All I need to do is take that pill, or drink that drink”. It is so dangerous. Eat healthy, exercise, and build up your self esteem.

Mina, such a great story. I would love to contact you for an article in Inspire Health magazine. I think this would fit perfectly with our message that inspires health, wellness and self love! http://www.inspirehealthmag.com Contact me! Rachael – ihm@inspirehealthmag.com
PS I’m sharing this on our blog

Great article. The only thing I would disagree with is the jeans. Jeans have to fit like that when you put them on, if they fit properly (no muffin top) when you put them on…then within three hours they are sagging everywhere! My jeans fit just like that when I put them on, but I wear a fitted tank top over them to smooth everything out, and then they look great and don’t get saggy!

LOVE this article. I am 50 and just now learning to love my body and myself. I hope lots of younger women read this and take it to heart. Very well written. I showed my husband the before and after picture first, and sad what do you think…..he said, wow, that’s great…..I said the picture was taken within 10 minutes of each other….his eyes bugged out and was just like WOW! Thank you for sharing!

Oh, Michael, that’s called being tongue-in-cheek. I have a penchant for a flair for the dramatic. But I can understand how a certain nuance for sarcasm can be lost in the written word.

And besides, I AM the fitness industry, so if I truly despised the very industry in which I make the bulk of my living, well, that would be, quite frankly, pretty f@cked up.

I absolutely agree with your second point, that we as a nation are overweight, over-medicated, unhealthy, and out of shape, and that we have a responsibility to ourselves and to our loved ones to live long, healthy lives.

This article was not intended to condone eating Twinkies and sitting on the couch all day as an acceptable lifestyle.

But I did also want to open up awareness to the rampant lies and deceit that exists I’m the diet and fitness industry, too.

Did you know that Mel V, the Australian personal trainer whose before-and-after photos I featured in this article, recently found those very pics featured on some diet herbal tea website?!?! Yep, they stole her pics and used them as a testimonial for their own product!

Think about that for a moment and see if you can smell the delicious irony of it all!

I guess I am confused as to why you would have such a hatred for the fitness industry. Fitness is different then normal walk around weight. Fine to hate Kin Kardashian because she of how fake all her pics are, “fitness” implies, sports, activity… why should anyone that does not take steps to be fit (as opposed to a healthy normal weight) compare themselves to fitness enthusiast?.

We as a nation need to also realize too much of our population is over weight. Not in a point in laugh way, but in a wake up to all of the terrible health issues that individuals suffer and how that impacts society (drives up health costs…). People should always love themselves, but they should also love themselves and their loved ones to be at a healthy, normal weight to help guarantee they can all enjoy each others love and happiness for years to come.

Even though a lot of the country is overweight and there is a need to promote fitness, there are a lot of shady practices in the fitness industry that need to be addressed, from extremely dangerous advice passed off motivation to the hawking of dangerous supplements or needlessly expensive machines to make a buck on people’s poor self esteem. Just because there is a need for fitness doesn’t mean everything it does should be excused.

It’s not about being a fitness enthusiast, that’s a good thing. This was clearly about deceptive practices, and I applaud the author for doing this experiment.

It gets better!!! When you discover how beautiful you truly are and really learn to love yourself and your body; you will notice a greater inclination to take better care of it. The result? Better health, higher energy levels and even more reasons to keep smiling.

Love this article, Mina! I was just doing the same thing in the mirror to examine my post pregnancy belly and it was such a difference. People tell me how good I look for just having a baby, but it’s really that being a former fat girl I know how to wear the clothes to my advantage. Keep spreading the love and positive message. You rock!

Thank you for sharing! My teenager needs to read this! This I wish was something they talked about in health. Cause our kids now a days only look at the media and models how they lose all this weight and they look awesome. When in reality it’s a fake. That’s what it is about loving yourself enough to not worry about all the stuff that is on the surface!! Love this article so happy that you did this and then shared!! What an inspiration!

How wonderful, Heather! And if you haven’t already watched them, I highly recommend the Killing Us Softly documentaries by Jean Kilbourne. A great eye opener on the fashion industry, as well as a powerful message for young women: http://www.jeankilbourne.com/videos/

Mina, this is amazing, i can’t wait to try a similar experiment, I have had eating disorders and poor body image issues all my life. It has been getting better recently but the message you send here is so powerful and what is even more powerful is how you take the time to reply to everybody who replies to you. You ROCK girl!!!!

Mina there are so many great lessons here! Most impactful for me is the difference you can make. I sit in front of a computer all freaking day, and I KNOW i’m slouching more everywhere. Gonna stand up tall and make the most of what I HAVE before I judge myself. Thanks so much for this!

Great article, Mina! I wish more people were aware of the techniques used to “shed the fat” for most of the pictures we see in the magazines; maybe then, people would be less susceptible to buying most of these supplements that really do little or nothing.

I especially like the twist in the end. Those same techniques (with the exception of photoshop of course..) can be used to improve one’s self image in a matter of minutes. Having the right clothes for your body is every bit as important as developing the physique.

It’s sad that people use trickery to sell products. It’s even sadder when people knowingly participate in it by being the model. So much for good eating and exercise. Everyone wants a quick fix and will not hesitate to buy a “wonder” supplement. It’s starts from within and then you make small changes with your lifestyle. Eventually the real results will come.

I am a martial artist, and the first lesson we teach is how to carry yourself. If you don’t have your shoulders back, square over your hips, you are physically unbalanced, and usually mentally unbalanced as well. The core body strengthening and self-image improvements that come from this simple lesson have taught me a lot about how we force our outward appearance to match what we think we look like, even if this image is far from the truth. I will be sharing this article as well! Thank you for stepping out and taking a risk to show people that we can control how people perceive us!

Loved this article Mina!!! It is so good to read an honest to god, real article about a real person. All those articles in magazines, photos on Instagram and Facebook can make a girl feel less than average. Thank you!!!!

Even Cindy Crawford was once quoted as saying, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.” Just goes to show how disconnected we all are these days from real honest-to-goodness, unadulterated, un-airbrushed, un-photoshopped, un-botoxed, un-juvedermed beauty.

Awesome article Mina! Especially the message about self-love. I always tell people that happiness looks good on anybody and the more self-fulfilled I’ve become, the more people compliment me on my beauty!

Ok…I ADORE this article. It’s so damn important and what an amazing perspective shift. I’ve often thought of this in my own life. One minute, I feel amazing. Maybe I’m just getting out of the shower and my body looks beautiful.

Then I put on clothes. Maybe pants from last year. Or a shirt that doesn’t quite fit anymore. And voila! I think I’m ugly and fat.

I love the point that it is the SAME BODY. It’s always the same body whether it’s puffier than it was last year or tighter or whatever. That isn’t the point. It deserves love and is beautiful.

As a pro model in my former years I know all about air brushing…it’s great to see your self perfectly smooth and toned and tanned…but the reality is QUITE different. Over time you realize that if you are not happy with the chubby bits you gotta put in the work to get rid of them. So put that cupcake down if you are sick of having a muffin top!!
I’m not on the face book so i can’t post positive comments about your rockin’ bod or your even rockiner (is that a word) attitude towards it all.